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This past season, Nathan MacKinnon was the latest victim of the recent string of number one picks to suffer from the dreaded sophomore slump. His production fell from 63 points in his rookie season to 38 points this season. My question is, what do you expect to see from him next season?

Here's my personal guess: The drop off in points is somewhat skewed by the fact that he only played in 64 games because of an injury. If you assume the same scoring pace over a full 82 games, he would have had 49 points -- still down, but not as severely. I think that MacKinnon will have a rebound season, and I think we'll see something similar to what he did in 2013-14.

As a Wild fan, I got to see up close n personal what he is capable of when he is clicking.

Saw him lots on TV against Minnesota his first two seasons, caught quite a few Avs games (watched mostly to see he and O'Reilly play), and caught some live games, Avs at Wild.

It will be hard for him to stay "down" for very long.

That said, and despite his skillset, I think how well Nate MacKinnon does will be up to...well, Nate MacKinnon.....and his ability to adjust to what teams are doing to him defensively.

Not too different than other talented rookies who come in, like the proverbial 'house of fire', light up the league, then comes that, as you put it, the sophomore slump, because teams now know what to expect from the guy, he no longer has the element of surprise, and they adjust their coverage and playstyle to take away the time and space he needs to duplicate his previous good season.

But the difference is, the TRUE NHL mainstays will make adjustments to the oppositions adjustments....and of course, the defenses will counter yet again, and then the player must adjust/adapt/evolve once again, and so on and so forth.

That is where I think we will see the measure of what Nate MacKinnon REALLY is.

Will he be stubborn and just try to do what he's always done, thinking "Well, it was bad luck last year, and I will have better luck this year"....

Or will he be smart, look at film, see what teams did differently to him from one season to the next, see the differences also on home/road splits, then throw in new wrinkles into his already awesome game to make himself that much of a better player?

I am betting between his own smarts and the Colorado coaching staff, he SHOULD rebound simply because if a fan such as myself can see that teams caught on to his 'ways' on the ice, then you can bet your bottom Pesos that his coaching staff and scouting staff see that as well.

Just going to come down to adaptability and intelligence from MacKinnon himself.

If he makes the necessary adjustments, well, the Central divison, and indeed the league, best look out.

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I say McKinnon has a line something like 26 goals, 40 assists....66 pts and some exceptional high lite reel goals. Last year was an anomaly, the fame Soph. slump. He is a star, after this year he will get up to 80 pts and be a point per game player for the next 5-7 years after this year.